Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-02-27

A landowner is demolishing them,
much to the horror of antiquarians.
At village near Verona some Etrus-
can tombs with coins, metal tools, and
furnaces for incinerating bodies, have
been unearthed while digging the
foundations of barracks.
A portrait of Washington, which
hung on the wall of the House OF Rep
resentatives in the State House at Co
lumbia, s. c., when the town was
burned, was cut from its frame by n
member of Sherman's staff, and was
the only picture saved. 1t is under
stood that its owner, who is General
W. W. Belknap, will return the picture
to the State.
In the porch of the British Museum
stand two hideous, rudely carved eff
gies OF human beings, which were
brought from an island in the South
Pacific. Easter island has hundreds of
such images, carved by nobody knows
who. The Germans recently removed
one, and now the Smithsonian is about
to receive another per United States
steamer Mohican. 1t weighs more than
twelve tons.
In Berlin it has been found that the
Museum of Decorative Art, which was
founded for the use OF workmen in the
industrial arts, has been placed just
where real workmen can never use it
in the most aristocratic part OF the city.
In New York we are eminently PrIs-
sian in such matters the few institu-
tons we have are badly placed, and
managed without reference to the needs
of the public.
The Acadcmy speaks of provincial
collectors of painting who, "by pre-
tentious accumulations of third or fifth
rate matter, add nothing to knowledge
and do nothing to nourish taste. Yet
it is often only with rare difficulty that
the provincial collector, who has had
the fewest possible opportunities OF see,
ing the great things, and has often ne
elected to embrace even these, can be
persuaded of his own helplessness.'
AS feat of engineering the tunnels
of the st. Gothard and Mount Gents
have been surpassed by a tunnel near
Schemnitz, in Hungary. 1t is 10t
miles long, about 10 feet high, and .
broad. 1t has taken nearly century
to complete it and ostS5, 600, 900, andits
purpose is to carry off the water from
the mines. The work has suffered long
intervals of stoppage. once for thirty
and again for twenty years, and it is es-
timated to effect an annual saving of
$4,000.
The January Amcricdn antiquarian
describes a rock painted with red stripes
and ornamented at its northern end
with a rude representation of the sun
which still lies on the Upper Mississippi
about six miles below st. Paul. 1t is
an altar long held in reverence by the
Dakotas, who, as lately as 1862, deco
rated it and performed dances before it
on the eve of a battle. 1t is called
Eyay Shah, or Red Rock. Before it is
destroyed by vandals or fanatics or
stolen by interested persons it is to be
hoped that some local museum will Sc
cure this interesting relic Of primitive
religion.
The Graves collection of paintings
did not bring the great prices of some
other noted sales, but the average was
high enough to encourage dealers and
collectors. Mr.. Bierstadt's large land
scape brought 80, 450, a good but not
high figure, and for st. Paul, Mimi,
the Cupid Dlsarmed," by Bouguereau.
was bought for S7,700. A Hughes
Merle fetched $4,000, and a very fine
Rousseau 81, 900. The enormous prices
to which enterprising dealers some
times force pictures are not for the best
interests of painters. 1t is better that
more sales should take place at prices
which introduce always new individuals
to the habit of buying paintings.
A young Sophocles, modelled in
Rome by Mr.. John Donoghue, pupil
of Joufroy and Falguiere, of Paris,
has been set NJ in the plaster at Mr..
Launt Thompsons atelier, at Green
point, Long Island. The young dra
matist is nude save for pair of antique
sandals, holds Tyre of an archaic de-
scription in his left arm, and with his
right is about to touch the strings He
is leading a band of chosen Athenians
to the festival in honor of the victory
of Salamis, and, according to the ac-
count of that ceremonial, advances in
a solemn dance without clothes, his
mouth half open as he sings. The
statue is a marvel of hard, skilful
work anatomically, without being OBJ
trusively labored. What makes it most
remarkable is the ideal beauty of move
ment given to a figure beautiful in it
self. The expression is ecstatic.
In Fourth street, near Washington
Square, q memorial-window for North
Easton, Mass, is receiving the finish
ing touches. 1t is one OF Mr.. John La
Farge's most considerable efforts in
stained glass, being so large that only
two thirds can be shown at once, and
that with difficulty in obtaining the
proper light Designed in memory of
Helen Angler Ames, the upper portion
shows a sarcophagus seen from one end,
with angels kneeling on both sides. Just
below the bier and holding the centre of
the window is an angel of mercy with
an aureole, done in very light glass,
who holds a vase and is about to pour
from it into the cup OF a seated figure to
the left. Over this angel is the word
"Help," and over the seated figure the
word "Need." On the other side sits
woman in a pensive attitude, labelled
"Sorrow." The spaces 10 the right
and left on the plane just below
the sarcophagus and above the
two seated figures are occupied
by groups of kneeling angels, each
of three, who belong to the upper
rather than the lower half Of the win
dow. The treatment is half glass mo-
sale, half stained glass, the faces and
hands being painted and burned in.
The color is rich 10 heaviness, and in
the robes of the Sorrow very beautiful
in the tones of purple, green, and ma
rine blue. The sarcophagus is an in
tensely-rich mosaic of colors, and the
whole window is surmounted by the
Christian monogram.